ALL:
I am already dreaming about the 31 footer from Bill in Florida, (Maybe I will call her Dream Girl, if she is not already named!) and up popped the picture of Chris Wade toasting his middle roll on the after deck of Feelgood. The afterdeck appears to be made up of beautiful teak and holly. In this case, it appears Chris used an old saddle blanket for a rug so his captain's chair wouldn't mar the finish. I am not sure what Chris' middle roll is made up of but ... well, it probably came out of a can, much like mine did. LOL. But I am getting off the point here.
Paul has showcased a number of beautiful jobs on flooring or decking. I am not sure what the correct nautical term is, maybe the decking is made up of teak and holly flooring. Anyway, it got me to wondering about the correct way to lay flooring for both outside, and below decks, in the galley area. Some photos show the fiberglass deck completely removed and new wood layed for the flooring to lay on. That I can figure out. I also noted that Chris had laid paneling against the side of the cockpit that really accented the whole show, along with the varnished steps on the ladder to the bridge. How was the paneling attached to the sides of the cockpit?
It is the flooring layed on top of the fiberglass that has me wondering how to do it, if indeed that is how it is done. I don't want to cut the fiberglass deck out. I see several diasasters just waiting to happen between the seasons of the year and the amount of rain, snow, saltwater, and humidity. Feelgood has a nice canvas over this area. Two of the outside afterdeck hatches on the Summer Palace have swollen and the fiberglass burst because of the corrusion of the aluminum strengthening bars inside. I don't know about Bill's boat, but will find out soon enough. I also have a sailboat that needs flooring below. There is plywood there now that had been covered with a rug-like material. That needs to be fixed. Fitting the hatches or bilge boards is problematical also in all cases. How do I fix this?
Jerry at the point of the spear.